Bringing in the Professionals at Rio 2016

Avid Professional Services, a team of highly skilled consultants, project managers and engineers, played an invaluable role in helping our customers get the most out of their Avid solutions for their coverage of the Rio games. Working 12-hour shifts to provide 24/7 coverage during the games, they worked both onsite in Rio as well as at key customer sites around the world.

We had about 30 people dedicated to supporting the games, but when you add the extra support and engineering staff that were pulled in when needed, the team numbered 70 to 80 people. It all started back in June and July, with Professional Services providing training for editors and loggers both before and after they arrived in Rio. And their work will continue well into September, supporting the Paralympic Games.

We had two primary teams supporting an array of Avid products that we used by major broadcasters, including Interplay | Production, Avid shared storage, MediaCentral Platform and Interplay | MAM. They did everything from answering day-to-day questions, finding files and providing general support, to monitoring storage usage and troubleshooting issues.

On the ground in Rio, in addition to having staff at the International Broadcast Center — the heart of all broadcast operations — we also had teams covering the five “super venues” (for gymnastics, track and field, swimming, golf and tennis), which each had dedicated Avid shared storage, Media Composer and AirSpeed systems.

Every day was different, and everyone had their own role in the team. But it was a collaborative effort involving the workflow team, the tech team, customer support and engineering. The workflow team focused on resolving issues, while the tech team ensured users were guided through everything as smoothly as possible.

Working on the games required the passion, commitment and dedication of everyone involved. Like the athletes, our team had to be the best at their game. Our customers were very appreciative of their support and willingness to jump in and help with any issues, regardless of whether they involved Avid systems.